


no one likes you more

by Whyyyyy



Series: cadnis canon fics [26]
Category: Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:27:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29563272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whyyyyy/pseuds/Whyyyyy
Summary: after spring fling, aaron still hasn't asked cady out, so she enlists janis's help to make him jealous.idk if this summary makes any sense whatsoever but just read the fic ok
Relationships: Cady Heron/Aaron Samuels, Cady Heron/Janis Sarkisian
Series: cadnis canon fics [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2149737
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	no one likes you more

**Author's Note:**

> TW for the d-slur

"I just don't understand it," Cady said, spooning some mac and cheese onto her cafeteria tray. "It's been a month! I really thought Aaron liked me."

Damian sighed. "Caddy, we've talked about this."

"I know, I know," Cady threw up a hand. "I'm sorry. I'm obsessing again. Or still. And don't call me Caddy."

"Request denied," Janis said from behind her, placing a steadying hand on the cafeteria tray so that Cady wouldn't upend it with her flailing arm. "And it's fine that you're obsessing. You've literally liked him forever and he's being a little bitch."

Cady turned to her, mouth open indignantly. 

Janis shrugged. "What? It's true. He's sending some very mixed signals. First he acts like he likes you. Then he gets back together with Regina. Then he breaks up with Regina. Then he tells you that you're a clone of Regina. Then he acts like he likes you again, but still doesn't ask you out." She rolled her eyes. "Heterosexual dating is so gross." Damian nodded his agreement.

"I'm bi," Cady corrected as they began to walk toward their table. "And, yeah, you're right, he kind of is being a bitch."

Damian sat down at the table, followed closely by the two girls. "You know, _you_ could ask _him_ out."

Cady considered this. "I wouldn't want to make him uncomfortable. We're finally... friends, I think."

Janis scoffed. "You don't want to make him uncomfortable? Do you think straight guys ever worry about whether they're making girls uncomfortable when they ask them out? No, they do not."

"Yeah, way to smash the patriarchy, Caddy," Damian said sarcastically. "Really. Well done."

"Oh, shut up." Cady scowled at them as she bit into a cheese fry. "I just meant, I don't want to go and mess everything up again."

"Yeah, fair enough."

They all fell silent as they remembered exactly how Cady had messed everything up the last time. 

"I'm sorry," Cady said quietly after a pause. "I shouldn't be complaining about Aaron, I know you guys don't-"

"Caddy, it's okay." Janis lay a hand on top of Cady's, and Cady felt a jolt of electricity shoot up her arm. Probably static or something. "We don't mind listening about Aaron, really. We're your friends, we care about you. We just didn't like it when it seemed like you didn't care about us."

Cady lifted her gaze to meet Janis's dark brown eyes, feeling another burst of electricity sizzle up her spine as she did so. "Yeah. Okay. And... I did care about you guys, for the record. I didn't really realize how much I cared until it was too late."

Janis smiled. "It's not too late. We're still here, aren't we?" She squeezed Cady's hand, then pulled hers away. Cady's heart sank a little as the cool air hit the place where Janis's hand had been. She pulled her arm back quickly, giving herself a mental shake. What was wrong with her?

"Thanks, guys."

"You know," Damian began, waving a cheese fry at her. Cady frowned and glanced at his tray, which did not have any cheese fries on it. "If you're really not gonna ask him out, you could-"

"Is that mine?" Cady gestured at the cheese fry just as he popped it into his mouth.

"Yeah. It's like the tenth one I've stolen. You were too busy staring into Janis's eyes to notice."

Cady choked on air, blushing. From the other side of the table, she saw Janis plow her elbow into Damian's side.

"Anyway," Damian continued, as if he hadn't just implemented some serious gay panic. "I was gonna say you could try to make him jealous."

Cady jumped on this suggestion, eager for a subject change. "I don't know, that's such a Regina move," she said, scrunching up her nose. 

Damian shrugged, snatching up another cheese fry. "You can say a lot of things about Regina George, but she gets results."

"True," Cady admitted. "What would I even do?"

"Just, like, make out with Janis every once in a while."

And just like that, the gay panic was back. 

"Damian, why would she do that?" Janis hissed. "That makes literally no sense."

He shrugged. "You'd be surprised at how much more eager guys can get when they think they don't have a shot." He grinned at the girls, both of whom were blushing. "Just think about it."

* * *

Cady did think about it. She thought about it a _lot_ \- probably too much. 

So when she and Janis were at a party a few weeks later and she saw Aaron standing in a corner, completely ignoring her, she decided to stop thinking about it.

"Jan, come here," she hissed, tugging her friend into a corner of the room that was in Aaron's line of sight. "Can I kiss you?" she asked, trying not to think about how fast her heart was beating.

Janis frowned, then glanced over her shoulder and spotted Aaron, understanding dawning on her face. "Okay, yeah, sure." She placed a tentative hand on Cady's cheek, and Cady froze. She'd been expecting more resistance. "He's looking over here," Janis murmured, her face suddenly very close to Cady's. How she knew that, Cady had no idea, since her back was to him, but she didn't stop to worry about it. She leaned in and closed the gap between their lips.

It should be noted that Cady had never kissed anyone before, and she realized this approximately two seconds after her lips met Janis's. She considered pulling away, but stopped herself at the last second. It made sense that her first kiss was Janis. It seemed right, somehow. 

Not that this was much of a kiss. To Janis's credit, she seemed to be trying her best to make it look like they were passionately making out, but in reality, their lips were barely touching.

That didn't mean that it wasn't making Cady's pulse go crazy, though. 

After a long moment, she risked opening one eye a tiny bit, and as she did she saw Aaron making his way toward them. She pulled away from Janis, blushing as the other girl grinned at her.

"Aaron, hi," she said pointedly, taking Janis by the arm and plastering on a smile.

"Hey," Aaron said brightly. "Didn't know you guys were gonna be here."

"Yeah, it was super last-minute," Cady said casually. 

Aaron nodded. "So are you guys, like, together now?" He asked, gesturing to the two of them. Cady suddenly realized that Janis had an arm around her waist. She opened her mouth, then closed it again, blushing furiously.

Janis came to her rescue. "It would appear so," she said lightly, pulling Cady closer to her and giving her a squeeze that to Aaron probably looked affectionate, but to Cady it was more of a get-your-shit-together warning.

Aaron grinned. "Cool. See you guys around." He waved, then disappeared into the crowd.

Cady breathed a sigh of relief, and Janis dropped her arm from around her waist. Cady pretended that she didn't miss the touch. "I think it worked," Janis said dazedly. "He at least believed that we were together. Which is something, at least."

Cady nodded. "Yeah. Yeah," she said distractedly, still reeling from the whole experience. "We'll just... have to see if he asks me out, I guess." She gave herself a little shake and turned to face her friend, forcing a smile. "Thanks for the help."

Janis laughed. "Yeah, no problem. We're still gonna have to act like girlfriends, you know."

"Yeah," Cady agreed, trying not to notice the way her heart fluttered at the prospect. "Are you okay with that?"

Janis waved a hand. "I knew what I was getting into when I let you kiss me. The question is, are _you_ okay with it? You seem kind of out of it. And..." she paused. "Well. There's gonna be repercussions if people think you're dating the space dyke."

That brought Cady back down to earth. "I thought people stopped bothering you about that after Spring Fling," she said carefully, trying not to betray the rage building inside her at the thought of anyone hurting her... friend. Girlfriend? What was she supposed to call her now?

Janis shrugged. "Yeah, for the most part. They stopped shoving me into lockers, at any rate. But I've never had a girlfriend before, at least not a public one, so I don't know how they're gonna react."

Cady placed a hand on Janis's arm, trying not to gasp as she felt that little jolt of electricity again. "Jan. I don't care how they react. They can all go fuck themselves, okay? It's not... I don't care what they think."

Janis's eyes flicked to Cady's hand, which was still resting on her arm. When Cady didn't move away, she smiled. "Thanks, Caddy. That means a lot."

And for a second, Cady almost forgot that they weren't actually dating. That their relationship was completely platonic. That she was doing all of this specifically for someone else. Because Janis was smiling at her, a real, genuine smile, and it was the best feeling in the world. But then Janis was stepping away, announcing that she was going to go get a drink, and disappearing into the crowd, leaving Cady wondering why all of a sudden she couldn't remember what she even liked about Aaron.

* * *

For the next couple of weeks, Cady and Janis kept up the girlfriend façade. They held hands as they walked through the hallway, smirking at the people that whispered about them as they passed. At the lunch table, Janis would murmur "he's looking over here" and begin playing with Cady's hair or kiss her on the cheek. And Cady would smile and lean into her, ignoring Damian's knowing glances.

And then, exactly two weeks after the night of the party, Aaron found Cady in the hallway after school.

"Cady! Hey, wait up!" He called, and she turned to wait for him.

"Hey, Aaron. I was just about to grab Janis and leave, what's up?" 

He nodded. "Yeah, sorry, I'll be quick, I've just been meaning to talk to you for a few weeks now but I couldn't find the right time."

Cady realized, somewhere in the back of her brain, that he was about to ask her out. And somewhere much, _much_ further back in her brain, she wondered why she wasn't more excited. She banished the thought and smiled coyly at Aaron, gesturing for him to continue.

"Yeah, listen, I just wanted to say that I'm really happy for you and Janis." He squeezed her shoulder, smiling. "You guys seem really happy together."

Cady blinked. "I... huh?"

"I know we kind of had a thing going before Spring Fling, and I'm sorry I was so back and forth about it, but I'm happy you're happy now. We wouldn't have worked out, anyway. You and Janis make more sense." He squeezed her shoulder again, then pulled his hand away, and unlike with Janis, Cady didn't feel the absence of touch as acutely. "Anyway. That's all. See you around!"

He waved and started to turn away, but Cady's brain finally unfroze, and she grabbed his wrist. "Aaron, wait."

Aaron turned back to her, surprised. "Something wrong?"

"I... me and Janis, we're not..." she squeezed her eyes shut. "We're not together. We never were. We were just pretending to be, because..." she blew out a breath, opening her eyes tentatively. "You hadn't asked me out after Spring Fling, and I wanted to see if you'd get jealous or anything if you thought I was dating someone else."

Aaron tilted his head to one side. "Huh."

Cady twisted the corner of her flannel in one hand, nervous. "Is that all you have to say?"

"Sorry, I just..." Aaron paused, contemplating her. "Cady, I don't really think this is about me."

Cady squinted at him. "What?" she said, even though the sinking feeling in her gut knew exactly _what_. 

Aaron bit his lip. "It's just... I thought by now we'd established that you don't have to do things the backhanded way with me anymore. You literally could have just asked me if I was still into you, or just point-blank asked me out. And I know you _know_ that, so... maybe this is more about you wanting an excuse to be with Janis? Because we _also_ both know that even if you were gonna try to make me jealous, Janis was not the way to do it. I mean, she's your best friend, there's no way anyone would believe you guys were just casually dating. Her friendship means more to you than that, you proved that at Spring Fling. You'd never jeopardize your relationship with her unless you really loved her, in which case you'd never break up with her for me. And-"

"Okay, okay," Cady interrupted. "I get it, thank you."

He grinned. "Yeah, okay. And for the record, the reason I didn't ask you out after Spring Fling is because I could tell you were in love with Janis."

Cady opened her mouth, then closed it. He was right. And somehow, it was validating to hear someone else say it. To confirm the suspicions she'd been trying to ignore. "So what do I do now?" she asked after a pause.

"I think you know what to do," Aaron said, already backing away, arms spread out in a shrug. "If I had a mic right now, I'd drop it!" He called as he rounded the corner of the hallway and disappeared from view. Cady chuckled to herself, then nodded to herself and went to go find Janis.

* * *

"Knock knock," Cady called from the doorway, smiling as Janis turned from the canvas she was painting on to greet her.

"Hey, Caddy, I thought you'd left already," Janis said, beckoning her over.

"I was," Cady said slowly, sitting down on one of the empty desks and watching as Janis turned back to her art. "But I realized there was something I had to do first."

"Oh yeah?" Janis said distractedly as she swiped her paintbrush across the canvas. "What's that?"

Cady pretended not to hear the second part, choosing instead to go on the offensive. "Can I ask you something?"

"'Course. You okay, babe? You seem kinda freaked out."

At the 'babe' part, Cady's heart did a backflip. Janis had been slipping it into their conversations lately, and even though Cady knew it was for the benefit of the public, she liked it. 

"When I said... what I said to you," she managed, forcing the words out. "About you being... in love with me or something... were you mad because it wasn't true or because it was?"

There was a clatter as Janis dropped her paintbrush. She turned to Cady, eyes blazing. "Does it matter?" she asked quietly. "It was shitty either way, Cady, you have to know that."

"I know!" Cady squeaked. "I know, that's not why I'm asking! I'm not trying to... pin blame or anything, I just want to know."

Janis eyed her suspiciously. "Why?"

Cady cowered. "I don't know," she mumbled, which was a lie, of course. But seeing how scared Cady was, Janis sighed and dropped her defenses.

"The second one," she admitted. "I was in love with you."

Cady lifted up her head and pushed herself off of the table, meeting Janis's eyes with as much confidence as she could muster. "And are you still?" 

Janis's eyes flicked to Cady's lips, which were suddenly very close to her own, and she swallowed. "Yes," she said in a whisper, her voice barely audible.

"Good to know," Cady murmured, and then kissed her. 

It was only the second time they'd ever kissed, notwithstanding the small kisses Janis liked to press to Cady's forehead. This time, though, it was real, and they both knew it, and it was so much better for it.

...For about thirty seconds. Then Janis pulled away, shaking her head. "Wait, Caddy, what are you doing? What about Aaron?"

Cady laughed. "Right. Him. He is... no longer a going concern of mine."

"What changed?"

Cady smiled. "Nothing changed. I just realized what had been true all along."

Janis rolled her eyes. "That's some romance novel shit. Say it in English."

"He... may have pointed out to me that pretending to be your girlfriend would never have worked because there's no way he'd believe that I'd dump you for him since I've clearly been in love with you for months."

Janis blinked. "Wow. He's way smarter than I give him credit for."

Cady laughed, tugging Janis close. "I love you," she murmured. "I love you so much."

"I love you too."

Cady kissed her again, and this time, Janis didn't pull away.


End file.
